US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that sending the United States a second aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean comes within the framework of “deterring hostile actions against Israel or any efforts to expand the war in the wake of the attack launched by Hamas” on Israel.
The aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower and its group of warships will join the carrier Gerald Ford, which was previously deployed to the region following the Hamas attack a week ago.
Austin said in a statement that the deployment of the warships indicates “Washington’s firm commitment to Israel’s security and our determination to deter any state or non-state actor that seeks to escalate this war.”
On the same day in which the deployment of the second aircraft carrier was announced, US President Joe Biden, in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stressed Washington’s support for efforts to protect civilians.
The White House said in a statement about the phone call that the two leaders discussed “United States coordination with the United Nations, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and other countries in the region to ensure that innocent civilians have access to water, food, and medical care,” without mentioning Gaza directly.
Biden also spoke on Saturday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the first time since the outbreak of the conflict, denouncing Hamas’s “brutal attack on Israel.”
Biden told Abbas, according to a White House statement, “Hamas does not defend the right of the Palestinian people to dignity and self-determination.”
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2023-10-15 00:44:15
